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Christianization of Iberia


The Christianization of Iberia (Georgian: ქართლის გაქრისტიანება kartlis gakrist'ianeba) refers to the spread of Christianity in an early 4th century by the sermon of Saint Nino in an ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known as Iberia in the Classical antiquity, which resulted in declaring it as a state religion by then-pagan King Mirian III of Iberia. Per Sozomen, this led the king's "large and warlike barbarian nation to confess Christ and renounce the religion of their fathers". The king would become the main sponsor, architect, initiator and an organizing power of all building processes. Per Socrates of Constantinople, the "Iberians first embraced the Christian faith" alongside the Abyssinians, but most probably Kartli would become a second state after the Kingdom of Armenia, its longtime southern neighbor, that officially embraced the new religion. The Georgian and Armenian monarchs were among the first anywhere in the world to convert to a Christian faith. Prior to the Christological controversies their Caucasian Christianity was extraordinarily inclusive, pluralistic and flexible that only saw the rigid ecclesiological hierarchies established much later, particularly as "national" churches crystallized from the 6th century. Despite the tremendous diversity of the region, the Christianization process was a pan-regional and a cross-cultural phenomenon in the Caucasus. The Jews of Mtskheta, the royal capital of Kartli, that did play a significant role in the Christianization of the kingdom, would give a strong impetus to deepen the ties between the Georgian monarchy and the Holy Land leading to an increasing presence of Georgians in Palestine, as the activities of Peter the Iberian confirm, including the oldest Georgian Bir el Qutt inscriptions found in the Judaean Desert.


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